Parks and Coffee Carts
by Queen-of-the-Merry-Men
Summary: Robin Locksely gets the fright of his life when he returns from the park to find someone else's baby in his stroller. (Hood Beauty siblings.)Just a delightful OQ meet cute.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hey! Here's a nice little meet-cute. I have a part 2 planned but I don't know how far I'm gonna go with it. I might just drop in every once in a while.**_

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Robin Locksely always considered himself a careful man.

Sure, same as any man he was known to seek a thrill or two, but when it came to his decisions he prided himself on his ability to think things through. He always took his time in order to make the right choice, especially when it came to things of importance.

Case in point: his son's stroller.

Being a single father was never something Robin expected to be. When Marian had died less than a week after Roland's birth he'd been shell shocked to say the least. (He'd never be able to look at a pregnant woman without hearing the words _postpartum hemorrhage_ in the back of his head again.) Without her guidance he couldn't help but second-guess almost every choice he'd made concerning their son, Roland. Whether he was picking the right brand of formula or sticking his diapers too tight, a part of him would always stop to wonder whether Marian would've done it differently.

However, the one choice he would never be able to second-guess was his son's stroller.

It was the last big baby decision that he and Marian had made together. Together they'd agonized over which one to buy. Trolling through numerous online websites and checking each one for safety, comfort and price. Robin probably spent more time thinking through his son's stroller than he did his first car.

In the end they'd settled on a dark blue, top of the line jogger stroller with three happy brown bears stitched onto the hood. Roland absolutely loved the thing. As Robin discovered soon after his son's birth, one short ride around the block in his stroller and Roland would certainly pass out. That one ability made it Robin's favorite item in the world.

And he wasn't the only one who favored it.

In the six months since his son's birth Robin had run into more than a few parents who had the same stroller as him. Apparently, it was a top seller online and in stores. But that wasn't something that Robin had given much thought to… until now.

He'd only planned on taking a quick walk to the store with his son. Belle, his younger sister, had needed him to pick up some ingredients for dinner that she'd forgotten. (She'd moved in with him shortly after Marian's death, something he'd never be able to thank her enough for.) Roland had been a little colicky anyway, so Robin figured the fresh air and stroller would do him some good. He was right. By the time they'd made it three blocks to the bodega, Roland had been utterly peaceful. It was autumn and the weather was beautiful so he'd decided to take the long way home through the park. Even stopped at the coffee cart on halfway through.

By the time he'd gotten home he'd felt completely relaxed. Looking in the stroller's storage area to put away the groceries, he'd frowned when he'd saw nothing but a small black women's handbag in their place. What? How did that get there? Where were the groceries? He was sure he'd put them in there. Yes, he'd certainly had, right after checking out with the cashier.

Mulling it over in his head, he'd stepped around to the front stroller to retrieve and gasped in shock.

From behind his back he heard Belle come out from her room. He turned to see her approaching him with a bright smile on her face. "Hey," she warmly greeted him. "Did Roland enjoy your walk to the store?"

Robin open and closed his mouth before softly responding, "I don't know…"

Smile still in place Belle tilted her head at him curiously. "You don't know?"

Robin felt his throat grow tight and his heart begin to race. "He's not here."

"What?"

Robin swallowed hard as his gaze dropped down to the baby in the stroller. "Belle, this baby isn't mine."

A nervous chuckle escaped from Belle as she narrowed her eyes at him. "What? What are you talking about?"

Striding across the living towards him, her smile dropped away when she saw a little boy, maybe one or two-years-old sitting in her nephew's stroller, with Roland nowhere in sight. Her mouth dropped open in surprise as her eyes flitted back up to her brother's shocked face. "Robin whose baby is this?"

Robin's hand drifted up to run over his scalp as he stared down at the child in his stroller. His dark brown hair was not the same shade as his son's jet black nor anywhere near as curly. And his cheeks were devoid of the dimples that Roland was so frequently complimented on. His eyes were wide open and Robin could see that they were a light shade of hazel and not the deep chocolate brown that he saw in Roland's eyes every day.

Everything about this child just screamed "NOT ROLAND" and it was making his heart explode with terror.

"Robin whose kid is this?!" Belle raised her voice trying to break through Robin's mental fog.

He just franticly shook his head and whispered, "I-I don't know."

"Well where is Roland?!" Her voice began to tremble as she was infected by Robin's panic. She started looking around the stroller as if she'd find her six-month-old nephew hidden somewhere in its gears. Robin watched her, utterly stricken as the various scenarios flashed in his head.

Was Roland kidnapped? Did someone take his son? If so, then why leave this other baby behind? Maybe they didn't want him. What if he forgot his son somewhere? What if he never saw him again?

Marian would be so ashamed of him.

He was broken out of his stupor by a sharp sound. He looked down to see Belle on the floor next to the stroller, franticly dumping out the contents of the black handbag he'd found in the stroller's storage.

He gave his head a little shake before asking, "What are you doing?"

"Looking for a business card, or an ID, or something that will help us find where Henry came from," she said, a fearful determination in her tone.

Robin immediately joined her on the floor. "Henry?" he questioned.

She nodded her head toward the stroller. "Baby blanket."

Robin whipped his head back toward the stroller where the baby boy sat. He noticed that behind him was a soft, blue baby blanket. Embroidered on the side in fancy letters was the name "HENRY."

He whispers the name, "Henry."

The boy whips his head toward him, eyes lighting up at the sound of his own name and lets a garbled little giggle. Robin, head still swarming with worry over his own child, only able to manage a tight grimace in response. Lost, unclaimed, and stuck with people who have no idea who he is and Henry is probably the calmest of the three of them.

Suddenly the sound of an electronic mamba fills the otherwise silent apartment. Immediately both his and Belle's heads snap toward the back of the stroller. The sound appears to be coming from behind one of its wheels, Robin reaches behind it to find a ringing smartphone that had probably slid under the stroller when Belle dumped out the purse. Its screen is lit up with the name "MARY-MARGARET."

Without hesitation he answers the call, Belle leaning closer to him in order to better hear the voice on the other line.

"Hello? Who is this?" Robin demands, his tone frantic and impolite.

"Yes! Hello! Do you have my son?!" The voice on the other line belongs to a woman. She sounds as panicked as he feels. It softens him a bit but not that much.

"Do you have mine?" he questions.

"Yes! I-I think so…" she responds, her voice wavering a bit. A thick pause passes between them. "Do you have Henry? Please tell me."

Her voice is trembling. Robin is willing to bet anything that she's trying not to cry. Damn it he was struggling with it himself.

"Yes, I have Henry," he answers, as calmly as he can. After a moment's hesitation he adds, "He's fine."

He hears a _whoosh_ on the other side of the phone and knows she's let out a sigh of relief. Belle widens her eyes at him and he only shrugs his shoulders, unable to elaborate further.

"Your son is fine too," she says, and he feels a fraction of his panic recedes. "He's been with me since… I don't know when exactly. I just found him when I got to the park."

More of Robin's terror fades as he listens to her try to explain herself. It's looking more and more like this was simply a misunderstanding. As he rises to his feet, his eyes drop down to the three bears on the hood of the stroller.

"Does your stroller have three bears on it?" he whispers, as things suddenly begin to click in his mind. "Because mine does."

There's another pause as he hears her grow silent. "Oh my god," he hears her gasp. "You don't think…"

"If there are bell peppers in the bottom of your stroller then yes I do," he moans, closing his eyes in shame. "We must've accidentally grabbed each other's strollers in the park."

"Oh my god I can't believe this is happening," she whispers. A moment passes as they both try to comprehend exactly how they let this happen. The woman is the first to speak. "Well I'm sure you're anxious to get…"

"Roland," he supplies.

"Yes, I'm sure you're anxious to get Roland back, just like I am about my son. So I suppose, I'll just… bring him to you."

"Yes and we can… swap our sons back," he mutters. Letting out a painful sigh he adds, "I can't believe I just said that sentence."

He hears a forced chuckle coming from the other line. "Believe this is not a gold star in my parenting book either."

"Are you still at the park?" he asks. "I can meet you there."

"Yes," she says, her voice still a little strained. "I'm at the children's playground in the Southeast area."

"I'll meet you there as soon as I can," promises Robin. After muttering a quick goodbye, he lets out a short, relieved breath. His son was not taken from him. It was a simple misunderstanding that would soon be corrected. Thank god.

"Well?!" The urgency is clear in Belle's voice as she expectantly stares at her brother.

"He's with a woman in the park. We must've accidentally swapped strollers," he explained. "I'm heading over there now to get him."

He sees her let out a short breath. "Okay good. I'm coming with." She swiftly heads back toward her room to get her jacket, before spinning on her heel. "Oh remember to pack up her purse again."

Robin immediately does so as his sister searches for her jacket. He can hardly focus on what he's doing. All he can think about is getting to the park as quickly as possible and finding the woman who has his son.

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 _ **TBC**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed! Please read and review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome back. Here's Regina's point of view!**

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Regina Mills was tired.

Really she was. It'd been a tough week even by her standards. A screw up at work had caused her to come home with a mountain of paperwork under her arm only to find her one-year-old coughing and red-faced. And that was just Monday. Since then her days had been spent reworking the proposals her coworker had half-assed and her nights pouring cold medicine down her son's throat while he screeched in pain and protest. She'd been running off of three hours of sleep a night for the past five days. It'd been truly horrific but this weekend was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. She'd finished all her work; Henry's fever had broken. She'd even gotten six hours of sleep the night before. When she woke up this morning she'd felt so refreshed she'd even agreed to a playdate at the park with her best friend and her son.

Something she'd regretted the minute she'd walked out the door. Even as she loaded Henry into his stroller she could already feel her morning vibrancy slipping through her fingers. Just an illusion brought on by half a goodnight's sleep and misplaced optimism. By the time they got to the park the exhaustion was practically sinking into her bones again. She took a detour at the first coffee cart she saw and picked up a black coffee with two shots of espresso. (Hell, she'd need it if she was going to pretend to keep up while Mary-Margaret talked about her plans for Neal's 2nd birthday party.) She'd downed it by the time she got to the playground.

Within ten seconds of arriving she'd spotted Mary-Margaret strapping a pair of blue sandals on Neal's feet as they sat on a bench next to the swings. Taking a moment to steel her resolve, she plastered a smile on her face before walking over to approach them.

Mary-Margaret's eyes lit up as she saw them approaching. Waving, she let out a cheerful "Hello!" as Regina glided her stroller next to the park bench. Regina offered her a softly forced "Hi" in response, not that Mary-Margaret paid any attention to her apathetic greeting. Instead her head was tilted to the side as she focused her eyes on the front of Regina's stroller.

A look of surprise flashed across her face as she rested Neal on her hip. "Oh, are you babysitting?"

Regina scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"No I was just wondering who the new little guy is," she elaborated, gesturing toward the front of the stroller.

Regina scoffed in response. "It's Henry, my son," she drawled like it should be obvious because it should've been. "I know it's been a while Mary-Margaret but you were there when the social worker first brought him home. You'd think that memory might help you recognize him."

Mary-Margaret's smile began to waver as her eyes flickered down to the front of the stroller again. "Regina… that's not your son."

A mixture of a snort and a chuckle escaped her at Mary's Margaret's comment. "What?"

Mary-Margaret's face instantly grew serious as she repeated, this time with more urgency, her assertion. "Regina, in your stroller, that's not Henry!"

Dread bubbled up in her chest as she took in Mary-Margaret's frightened eyes and wavering voice. Stalking over to the front of her stroller, her hands flew up to her mouth in shock as she laid eyes on the baby inside.

"Oh my god," she breathed.

The world went silent as she stared down at the baby sleeping in her stroller. This was not her son. This was not Henry. Her Henry was an eighteen-months old, this was a baby. He couldn't be more than a year-old. He could barely sit up on his own. He had curly black hair and dimples. He was nothing like her Henry at all.

Where was he?!

In an instant her mind ran through all the horrific possibilities of his current realities. He could be in the hands of kidnappers, or left in the street, he's still a little sick, he's probably not getting the care he needs, he could be coughing, what if no one's helping him, what if –

"Regina!"

Like lightning in a storm Mary-Margaret's voice broke through Regina's haze. Her eyes whipped over to best friend. She was holding her own son close to her side as she reached for Regina's shoulder.

"Regina, where is Henry?"

Her throat grew tight as she franticly shook her head. "I don't know."

"Well when did you last see him?" questioned Mary-Margaret.

"When I put him in the stroller!" Regina stressed, her voice shaking in terror. "I haven't moved him since then!"

"Are you sure?!"

"Yes! Yes I am sure!"

The baby began to squirm in discomfort causing Mary-Margaret to realize that their rising voices were attracting more than a little attention. She took a deep breath and comforting rubbed Regina's arm.

"Okay, okay, um, let's just try to stay calm. Everything's going to be fine," she promised, despite the doubts growing in the back of her head. "Let's just call the police, and they'll help us find Henry, and figure out who… this is."

She awkwardly gestured toward the sleeping baby, who looked dangerously close to waking.

Regina took a deep breath trying to keep herself from hyperventilating and nodded her head. Her heart continued to race as she patted down her pockets trying to find her phone before realizing that she'd thrown it in her purse, in the back of the stroller. Giving the mystery baby another wary glance she walked around to the back of the stroller and found… BELL PEPPERS?!

"Bell peppers- what the hell?" she said, in disbelief. In the place where her purse should've been, she found a plastic bag filled with bell peppers and other groceries. "What the hell is going on?"

"It's not in there?" questioned Mary-Margaret.

"No!" said Regina. "Someone replaced my purse with a bag full of bell peppers and paprika!"

She stressfully ran her fingers through her hair. _This can't be happening_ , she thought to herself. She'd lost her son and she can't even call the police to help find him.

"Alright this is weird," said Mary-Margaret. "What type of person takes a baby and leaves another baby and a bag of bell peppers. Something isn't right here."

"Well obviously!" snapped Regina.

Mary-Margaret didn't address her outburst. Instead she just pulled out her own phone.

"Are you calling the police?" asked Regina, standing to her feet.

"No," said Mary-Margaret. "I'm calling you."

"What?"

"If Henry's not here and your purse is not here, and the last time you saw them both they were in your stroller, then it stands to reason that they're together," she explained, swiping through her contacts.

In any other situation she might've applauded Mary-Margaret's quick thinking but at the moment all she could offer up was a snarky comment. "And just what's supposed to happen when you call the phone? Do you expect him to pick up and answer? He's less than two years old!"

"I know that!" Mary-Margaret shot back, her anxiety bringing out her "tough teacher" voice. "I don't expect him to pick up but maybe someone nearby will. Now do you want to listen in or not?"

"Alright fine," Regina desperately agreed. At least it was something.

Heads huddled together as Snow called her phone, they both listened over speakerphone as the other line began to ring. After two impossibly long rings someone finally answered.

"Hello? Who is this?"

Regina immediately snatches the phone from Mary-Margaret's hands and presses it against her ear. "Yes! Hello! Do you have my son?!"

"Do you have mine?" the voice shoots back. It belongs to a man, a nervous one if his tone is any indication. He sounds gruff and urgent as he speaks to her. Not exactly calming.

Her heart races as she answers, ""Yes! I-I think so…" Her eyes flit back to the sleeping baby in the stroller before she repeats, "Do you have Henry? Please tell me."

She can hear her own voice trembling but she doesn't care. All she cares about is knowing whether or not her son is okay.

"Yes, I have Henry," the voice calmly replies. "He's fine."

Her knees go a bit weak with relief and she lowers herself down on the bench. It feels more like a cinder block is sitting on her chest now, instead of the boulder she'd been carrying half a second ago.

She swallows hard before saying, "Your son is fine too. He's been with me since… I don't know when exactly. I just found him when I got to the park. I have no idea how this happened."

And she really doesn't. It's a complete mystery to her until the man then asks, "Does your stroller have three bears on it? Because mine does."

Her voice gets caught in her throat as her eyes drift over to the three familiar bears on the hood of her stroller. Suddenly it's so clear what happened. "Oh my god," she gasps. "You don't think…"

"If there are bell peppers in the bottom of your stroller then yes I do," she hears the man moan. "We must've accidently grabbed each other's strollers in the park."

"Oh my god I can't believe this is happening," she whispers.

 _How could I have let this happen_ , she thinks to herself.

She takes a moment to let her shame wash away before speaking again. "Well I'm sure you're anxious to get…"

"Roland." The man supplies his son's name.

"Yes, I'm sure you're anxious to get Roland back, just like I am about my son. So I suppose, I'll just… bring him to you?" she ventures, uncertainly. How exactly do you plan a meet-up to return a child you accidentally kidnapped?

"Yes and we can… swap our sons back," the man mutters. She hears him sigh before adding, "I can't believe I just said that sentence."

She forces a chuckle from her throat in a poor attempt to lighten the mood. "Believe me this is not a gold star moment in my parenting book either."

"Are you still at the park?" he asks. "I can meet you there."

"Yes," she says, her voice still a little strained. "I'm at the children's playground in the Southeast area."

"I'll meet you there as soon as I can," he promises. There's a moment of hesitation before he offers up an awkward, "Goodbye."

She doesn't exactly want to let him off the phone but she forces herself to say a clunky "Goodbye" before ending their call. Once it was over she let out a long, deep breath. Her heart was still beating out of her chest and she pressed her lips together willing it to calm down.

"So? Do they have him?" asked Snow.

Regina nodded her head. "Yes. It was a man. We must've… we must've accidentally grabbed each other strollers on accident."

Mary-Margaret's eyes widened. "Oh!"

Regina felt another wave of shame roll over her. "Yeah. He's coming back right now. So we can get our sons back."

A bright smile appeared on Mary-Margaret's face as she gave Regina's shoulder a supportive squeeze. "Well that's good news. Everything is going to be fine."

Regina managed to give her a weak smile but in her heart she knew she wouldn't be able to relax until the man who had her son placed him back into her arms.

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 **I hope you enjoyed! Please read and review!**


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